Between The Lines

                                               The Impossible Knife of Memory

• Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
• Performed by Julia Whelan and Luke Daniels
• Released: January 2014 by Brilliance Audio
• Category: Young Adult Fiction

Hayley Kincain has an interesting take on her peers, they’re either freaks or zombies. She’s spent the majority of her teenage years travelling  around the country navigating for her truck driving dad. Now they’re living in her grandmother’s old house in their home town and Hayley has started high school which proves to be a challenge for her. She copes by being aloof, hiding her pain as best she can and not letting herself get close to anyone...until she meets Finn.

Her father, Andy, has an altogether different way of coping with his problems. He’s dealing, or actually not dealing, with the aftermath of his military service in Iraq and Afghanistan with drink and drugs. It’s left to Hayley to look out for him and try to keep his unpredictable behaviour under control. They are both ravaged by Andy’s PTSD and it’s only getting worse. How much longer can Hayley manage.

Thoughts

Written from Hayley’s point of view, she has a pithy and unique perspective due in no small part to her unconventional upbringing. Her mother died when she was very young and after several years in her grandmother’s care she became close to her dad’s partner who eventually left. Deep down Hayley is hurting and insecure.

Her father’s flashbacks add poignancy and give a small insight into the concept of PTSD. It’s so hard to grasp the enormity of the lasting effects this has. Both Hayley and her father have their demons to deal with and neither are coping well.

The situations and characters are complex and realistic, very well-developed. It’s an exceptionally moving and compelling story of a family broken beyond bearing and although it makes difficult listening at times it’s incredibly well written. There’s no miraculously  happy ending here but there is hope.

Performance

The more I listen to Julia Whelan the more I like her narrations. She’s the perfect voice for Hayley and makes the strong, smart yet vulnerable character stand out.

Luke Daniels’ narration of Andy’s flashback sections, although few and far between, convey the distressing emotion and absolute horror, the feelings and experiences of war and Andy’s appalling memories of the things he’s witnessed that now torment him.